Justice March in Turkey turns into a move supported by a broad range of groups

The Justice March in Turkey has grown with the participation of people from various walks of life. One of Turkey’s longest and most massive marches, the Justice March has already been marked as a historic time in the country. While the supporters of the government have been trying to provoke the march with bullets, manure, and other means, they have also been repeating their only argument against the march by asking ‘why the main opposition waited for MP Enis Berberoğlu to be arrested’ for such step to be taken. The actual scope of the march, however, shows it to be otherwise.

All groups in the country that have faced injustices see this step as a move to turn things around. Some of the most prevalent demands of those who have been walking from Ankara to İstanbul for days can be summarized as below:

Participants of the Justice March also demand release of educators Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça, who've been on a hunger strike for over 100 days to demand their jobs back

With the state of emergency law declared in response to the July 15 failed coup attempt, hundreds of thousands people have been dismissed from their jobs; and, thousands have been arrested or jailed. While European Court of Human Rights rejected the applications of victims of these emergency decrees by recommending them to first ‘exhaust all legal remedies’ at home, the state of emergency commission which was created in Turkey for this purpose has not done nothing noteworthy in resolving the issue. And, one of the main reasons for this is the fact that hundreds of thousands files are currently piled up at the door of the commission. In best case scenario, it will take years for these files to be examined and for applicants to be returned to their positions.

Nepotism practiced by the ruling party in public offices, at all levels, and is also one of the issues the participants of the Justice March are walking against…

Women activists and professionals make up a significant part of the participants of the Justice March

The serious deterioration of quality in education in the country is also one of the most impactful problems. While vocational Islamic schools (İmam-Hatip) opened even in small towns is viewed as an obvious pressure of the government to weaken secular principles, objections of neither the parents nor the opposition against this have been valued by the government. Participants of the Justice March have also been addressing this issue.

Violence against women has become something clearly visible under the administration of AKP. The root cause of this is commonly thought to be the patriarchic mindset of the religiously conservative groups, who have been trying to impose their lifestyles in every field of life. Meanwhile, government authorities and their supporters have been giving statements ‘legitimizing’ the violence against women and the punishments issued on perpetrators are far from being deterrent. So, women’s participation in the Justice March is also one of the most aspects of the march.

Destruction of nature and ecological life has also become something severed with the rent-oriented policies of AKP. A significant portion of the society has become too weary of this and the Justice March has turned into a demonstration for them to also raise their voices…

People in the march demand government officials to 'stop destroying and exploiting natural resources'

Front-page article of BirGün published on 29 June 2017, Thursday with the headline of 'This is why we are marching'

Source: https://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/adalet-yuruyusu-15-gununde-167222.html